


N7 Day

by One-Shot Sheriff (JamesPeppersalt)



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Birthday, Birthday Cake, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Loss of Parent(s), Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-31 00:31:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12664656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JamesPeppersalt/pseuds/One-Shot%20Sheriff
Summary: It's November seventh, Ryder's birthday, but she doesn't really feel like celebrating. Vetra decides to fix that.





	N7 Day

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact, it's my birthday today (N7 Day)! So I decided to write a fic about Ryder with an N7 Day birthday :^D  
> Warning: it's stupid, it's short, and it's sad(?)  
> I usually do a mass update but I haven't had time this year so I did this instead. :^P Enjoy I suppose

“Ryder?”

Verta walked into Sara’s room. The Pathfinder was sitting on her bed, holding something round and dark in her hands.

“Sara.”

Ryder turned, looking up at her girlfriend, and smiled. “Vetra.”

Vetra’s mandibles clicked. “Happy birthday.”

Ryder chuckled softly, looking back down. “Thanks, Vetra.”

“The others are preparing your cake. We really had to pull strings to get all the ingredient to make a proper cake, you know. Do you want to join them, or do you want to stay down here moping?”

Ryder paused. “Not right now, Vetra. Maybe in a bit.”

Vetra made a soft, unhappy humming noise, leaning against the frame of Ryder’s door and frowning. “What’s bothering you, Sara?”

“It’s… my brother, among other things.” Sara sighed. “I’ve never had a birthday alone. I know he’s awake now, and I can call him via comm later, but it’s still hard, y’know?”

“I know.” Vetra paused. “Sara, what are those ‘other things’?”

Ryder hesitated.

“...Do you know what today is, Vetra?”

“It’s your birthday. I thought we’d established that.”

Ryder chuckled. “Um… no.” She closed her eyes. “On earth, it’s November seventh. N7 Day. It’s a day to celebrate the service of Earth’s special elite soldiers- the N7.”

“Hmm.” Vetra glanced at what Ryder was holding. It was an oxygen helmet- black, with a tinted visor. There was a bit of red- her translator identified it as letters from Earth’s latin alphabet, and a Hindu-Arabic numeral.

N7.

“Your father was an N7, wasn’t he?”

A dry smile came to Ryder’s face. “Yeah. He was.”

Vetra sighed. “Ryder…”

Sara was silent, still looking at her father’s helmet. Vetra hadn’t been on Habitat Seven when it had happened, but when Ark Hyperion had first arrived in Andromeda and launched a crew including Alec Ryder and his only conscious child to investigate their “Golden World”, things had gone horribly wrong. Alec Ryder, the human Pathfinder, hadn’t made it back. He’d instead opted to save his daughter, after the visor in her helmet had shattered- by sacrificing himself, and giving her his own.

Vetra hesitated, then stood up straight, making her way over to where Ryder sat on her bed, taking a seat next to her. Vetra looked at her hands as she set them in her lap. “I’m… sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Ryder pursed her lips, squeezing her eyes shut. “I know that some of the things he did were… questionable. Not right. Some things I feel like I should hate him for. But… he was still my father. He saved my life. He may not have always been around, but he still cared for my brother and I. That had to count for something. It has to.” Ryder opened her eyes, which were filling up with tears. “I miss him. Today of all days. Every other human is celebrating their favorite space marines. But I… I can’t celebrate. I just feel… hollow. Like I should be out there, celebrating my people, my _birthday_ , but I just… can’t. Because everytime I think about today, I think about him.”

Vetra put a hand on Ryder’s shoulder. “Sara. I understand. I really do. I remember when my father left and never came back. I felt like my whole world was crashing down, and I could never put it back together again.”

“It’s not the same. You had to fight so hard to survive- you were essentially a child still. I wasn’t dependant on my father.”

“Yeah, but he was still your father. And the way he died… you watched him _sacrifice_ himself to save you. That’s a special kind of hurt, right there.”

Ryder stared blankly at her helmet. “Am I doing the right thing, Vetra? Am I… am I following in his footsteps? Am I a good Pathfinder?”

“Well… that’s a bit of a loaded question.” Vetra leaned forwards. “You’re not your father, Sara, and I didn’t know him. I don’t know if you’re doing what he’d do. But you’re doing what _Sara_ would do, and what Sara’s doing is being a damn good Pathfinder.”

That brought another smile to Ryder’s face. “Vetra… thank you.”

“Anytime.”

Sara turned her head, looking up at her girlfriend. “I love you so much. Please… don’t leave me.”

“I won’t. You can count on that.”

She leaned down and kissed Sara, holding her girlfriend’s arms and pulling her close.

“But, you know, Sara… it’d be a shame if you didn’t eat that cake.”

Sara laughed, pulling backwards, a real smile spreading across her soft face that made Vetra feel so warm. “Alright, alright, I’ll go. I don’t see why you’re so excited; it’s not like _you_ can eat it.”

“I just want to see my girlfriend happy,” Vetra chuckled. “Not to mention I heard that humans have a birthday ritual where they said sugary pastries on fire and then try to put them out with their mouths, which is something I _have_ to see.”

“That’s… not exactly how it goes, but that _is_ an interesting way to put it.”

Vetra stood, turning to Ryder and holding out her hand. “Milady.”

Ryder giggled, taking Vetra’s hand and letting her help her to her feet. “Well, let’s go eat that cake, huh? Scott told me he’d get mad if I didn’t stuff my face with cake in his honor.”

“Well, then, let’s go stuff your face with cake.”

 

***

 

Later that night, Vetra and Ryder had managed to escape the rest of the crew, and were now sitting in Ryder’s room, staring at the galaxy outside of the windows while Ryder ate what remained of her cake. (They’d managed to salvage a little bit after Jaal had taking “lighting the candles” too literally and nearly burned the whole cake, and Drax had taken a piece big enough to feed a small family easily.)

“I’m always amazed by how big Andromeda is,” Ryder sighed. “It just makes me think about how all of my problems are so small compared to how _vast_ it all is.” She smiled. “Dad always used to say that we’d never see the whole universe.”

“Well, that’s one thing he was wrong about, because I’ve seen the whole universe.”

Ryder raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really?”

“I’ve seen you.”

Sara’s eyes widened, and she began to laugh. “Ve- _tra_! Don’t be ridiculous.”

Vetra laughed as Ryder leaned her head on her shoulder.

“Happy birthday, Sara.”


End file.
